I've just tweaked a bat profile today,(suns out in Oxfordshire and being a true northerner, had to get my shorts on and get out in it)so thought I'd try a bit with the finishing, as Tom criticised my poor finishing at the last Southern net.

Using the random orbital sander gradually going up the grades, means it's easy to get a pretty decent finish, using 240 last.Then I finished off with 400 then 600 wet an dry,(I'm an engineer, so I have this handy).Then finished off with a bit of wax

It's easy to get a bit ocd about finishing(Tom)😀but it is very satisfying to see a bat that you've shaped and finished yourself

Possibly Tom, I've got a couple, so I've just knocked em both down to 2.8 and had a play with the finishing.I need to try a polishing mop on the random orbital sander, to see if that gets a nicer finish too.They are my net bats, so I'll let you have a butchers end of Jan

Possibly Tom, I've got a couple, so I've just knocked em both down to 2.8 and had a play with the finishing.I need to try a polishing mop on the random orbital sander, to see if that gets a nicer finish too.They are my net bats, so I'll let you have a butchers end of Jan

They aren't much cop those polishing bonnets for the Random orbit sander. Not from what I've seen of them anyway. They do an okay job, but nothing better than I find you can do by hand in the same time frame

I've only ever found that if you wet it, if it's used dry I've never had any problems with the black carbide going into the bat. If you are doing it by hand and quite a sweaty person (not saying you are @Seniorplayer just a point) it's probably not advisable

Great info re finishing thnx. Been looking at different planes to use for any concaving. Not many rounded bottom planes pop up second hand and ive been told i could take a regular wooden smoothing plane and shape the base and blade to suit but i dunno about that. For those that know about these tools, is this the sort of plane that would work? The specs are -

"The radius plane is 130mm long x 55 mm wide x 38mm high. The longitudinal radius is 230mm (9") and across the plane the radius is 75mm (3").Weighs 0.45 Kg and has a 1/8 " thick x 1 1/2" wide HSS blade hardened to Rc 62.

It has a 55 degrees blade angle and is specifically designed for shaping the seat of a windsor chair, or other tasks that the radius of the sole will suit."

I'm not a bat maker but i would have thought that you would only want the radius to be across the blade. The body of the plane in the direction that you are planing should be flat. It looks like the plane that you've pictured is for hollowing out bowls

I know I'm probably on my own here, but I hate concaving, so prefer to take weight off the spine and edgesI want as good a spread of wood right across the hitting area.Unfortunately with the big edge obsession bat makers have to concave the bats to maintain the edge sizeI couldn't give a monkeys about the edges, as long as they are 25mm ish, I can get a good spread of wood from the toe upwardsI also don't like duck bills, as I'm seeing more and more bats breaking in this area

Most actual bat makers don't like big edges and only do them because the mass market 'wants' big edges to crow over.. just look on here when peoooe demand xMM edges.. as you say, screw th edges, give me more in the actual bat please, I don't plan on using the edges !

Great info re finishing thnx. Been looking at different planes to use for any concaving. Not many rounded bottom planes pop up second hand and ive been told i could take a regular wooden smoothing plane and shape the base and blade to suit but i dunno about that.

Shaping the base of a flat bottom plane is relatively easy to be honest. I got 2 old wooden planes in a local antique shop and did exactly this with one of them. You can simply sand the edges away to the shape you like. You do also need access to a grinder though, to shape the iron. This takes some care, but is definitely do-able.